


Got away by some mistake

by chailover



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Gen, S2e30 Ghost of the past, Team as Family, Tony Being Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2015-07-13
Packaged: 2018-04-09 03:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4331862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chailover/pseuds/chailover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tag/Coda to Avengers Assemble (cartoon) season 2 eps 30: Ghosts of the Past.</p><p>  <i>"The point is, I don't think we thwarted your nefarious plans," Stark mused. "In fact, I think we played right into your Nazi-installed, highly technologically advanced hand."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Got away by some mistake

**Author's Note:**

> As ineptly tagged and noted in the summary, this is a tag/coda to a specific episode in the Avengers Assemble cartoon. If you haven't seen it, you should go see it because it is hilarious, but if you can't for some reason, it was basically the Winter Soldier somehow pwning the Avengers without major loss of life or world destruction, with of course the intrepid heroes saving the day at the end. Title is from That's the Way I Loved You by Taylor Swift, because Steve and Bucky are very Taylor Swift appropriate AKA ridiculous.

***

_Then_

He was resigned to his lot in life - there were others before and he was sure there would be others after, but he seemed to have the particular knack for applying his boot to the good Captain's serum-enhanced behind. Let it not be said that James Buchanan Barnes ever shied away from giving Steven Grant Rogers a well-deserved kick in the pants.

Falcon in the singular and the Avengers in the plural were, without a doubt, good for Steve. The problem was usually that Steve didn't seem to know what was good for him, and in fact, seemed determined to go after everything that was bad for him; See exhibit A: bullies in Brooklyn, exhibit B: World War II and Schmidt and lastly, exhibit C: the Winter Soldier. 

So he wasn't entirely surprised when he saw Falcon's face fall at whatever Steve said to him, and it wasn't hard to guess that it was Steve being an idiot and not accepting Falcon as a partner, accepting that his team was there for him in ways that Bucky could no longer be. Steve was always crap at seeing what was right in front of him.

 _Mission accepted_ , he thought.

**

 

_Now_

His burner phone buzzed just as he was settling in to do some research on his next mission. He glanced over at it to see the notification for a new text, which seemed ridiculous as he had just gotten the phone a week ago and no one had this number.

The message was simple and enlightening - _Call you in ten, Bandit._

He sighed and started packing up - taking a call in the library would draw too much attention, and he was pretty sure Tony Stark wouldn't settle for being ignored. Besides, he had been expecting this, somewhat: not necessarily an actual phone call, but some sort of contact from the billionaire, given that it was his state-of-the-art tower and security system that got broken into.

There was enough time to stop at a coffeeshop and pick up a drink. It was closer to fifteen minutes later when the phone rang, which put him on one of the sidewalks in the local park, where the only things within earshot were a squirrel and maybe a bird or two.

Just to be contrary, he waited until right before the voicemail picked up to connect the call, and didn't say anything. It didn't phase Stark, who was already mid-sentence and going full speed ahead. " - the thought occurred to me just as I was about to start gloating, because gloating is kind of rude but I don't usually care about rude, you know?"

He figured it was a rhetorical question and didn't answer. Stark didn't seem bothered.

"Because we did thwart your nefarious plans, right?" There was a thunk in the background, as if something heavy was set down on a metal surface. "I mean, you kidnapped Red Skull, but we got him back. The train derailed but no one was seriously injured. The sea life probably weren't too happy about the bombs exploding overhead and at some point we'll probably get mutated sea monsters, but given that you were trying to get them to explode in a populated area, I'll take that as a win."

"Mmm-hmm." He replied absently. The coffee was actually surprisingly good, and he was entertaining thoughts of going back for a second cup after Stark was done.

"You don't sound thwarted." Stark concluded.

Because messing with Stark was fun, he said, in the most deadened tone he could manage, "damn you, Avengers, for thwarting my nefarious plans."

"Right?" Stark actually sound satisfied. "It was so weird when Jarvis gave me an update and reported that we didn't need to pay any funeral costs. That totally made Steve's day, I tell you."

There wasn't much to say to that except, "He's easy to please."

"Yeah, that." Tony agreed. "And then he went and finally accepted Falcon's invite to train - about time, I say! - which made Sam's day. I swear, if Steve had blown him off one more time I would've totally used all my powers for evil and seduced Sam to the dark side. We have nifty tech and, well, me."

"Aa. What exactly was the point of this call?" He asked, because if he let Stark keep babbling, they were going to hit the 2 minute mark and then he'd have to get rid of this burner. Probably should also move on to the next town, just to be safe.

"The point is, I don't think we thwarted your nefarious plans," Stark mused. "In fact, I think we played right into your Nazi-installed, highly technologically advanced hand."

"I'm flattered you think so highly of me."

"I'm reserving judgement due to insufficient data," Stark replied, "But Widow does think highly of you for some reason, and I learn to take notice when she tells me that someone's actually better than her at something."

He did feel a little flattered now - Natalia was not easy to impress.

"Look," Stark finally continued. "Maybe the universe was having a good day and all the stars aligned for a mortality free Avengers vs deadly ex-Hydra/Russian cyborg assassin throwdown, maybe you were just so messed up you were incompetent. But along that vein, I don't want to think of anyone that can get past Jarvis as 'incompetent', it's also possible you planned the entire thing, and the magic eight ball and Romanov say 'all signs point to yes'."

"You have thirty seconds make a point," he noted. And, because it really needed to be said, "Your AI would have done a much better job keeping me out if he was allowed to use lethal force."

"Lethal- what? J!" Stark yelled. "World's deadliest assassin means you're authorized to use lethal force! You know it probably won't kill him anyway!"

Stark's AI responded directly, as if they were on three-way conference. "Indeed, sir. And I assume you will be the one to speak to Captain Rogers regarding the use of this lethal force?"

As Stark sputtered indignantly, he finished his coffee and tossed it in a convenient trash can. "I think we're done here."

"Alright, good talk!" Stark yelled right before he hung up. 

He wasn't sure how Stark got the number in the first place, but he wouldn't be surprised if his AI was already halfway through tracking him through it. Since the phone was a lost cause, he went ahead and crushed it in his left hand before tossing the tangle of plastic and metal the same way as the coffee cup.

**

_Then_

As he prodded the Red Skull down the maintenance shaft, toward the underground tunnels of the subway, he spared a moment to consider putting a bullet into his former tormentor's head. He shook off the sentiment almost as soon as it floated up - it wasn't part of mission parameters, and the satisfaction he would get from it would be temporary, at best.

He looked at the other monster shuffling reluctantly in front of him, hands cuffed and shoulders bowed. So different from the Red Skull of his admittedly tattered memories - but then again, neither of them can be the men they were. Schmidt right now was like a distorted mirror back to the past, to a time when he was the one hunched and shaking, mind in pieces.

No, he wouldn't kill Schmidt - if only because he had been in a similar place, and no one was kind enough to put him out of his misery then either.

When the Red Skull hesitated at an juncture, he nudged the other man with his rifle. "Left, and down," he ordered. A memory flashed in his mind's eye - over seventy years ago, in France, with the Howlies against Schimdt's Hydra in hidden base near a port town. The Commandos had been vastly outnumbered, but between a Captain America decoy and the mostly flooded underground tunnels under the city, they made off with one of Schmidt's principal scientists. "Just like Calasis," he murmured in realization.

Red Skull gave him a blank, uncomprehending look, but complied. It was a little ironic that Schmidt didn't remember when he did.

The irony hit him again when Steve cut them off at the pass, but at least it was evidence that someone else besides him remembered.

**

_Now_

The world went on, regardless of Thanos, Ultron, or the Squadron Supreme. The passing of the Titans didn’t make a huge impression on him, only because he was already on the peripheries of the world as it was, and the chaos outside could barely compete with the chaos inside. Still, the dust eventually settled and the world spun on, the Avengers victorious for another day.

The Avengers’ victory was actually why it was somewhat surprising to see the Black Widow in one of the ubiquitous Starbucks that seemed to proliferate in every decent sized town, a few weeks after the world threatened to end for the n-th time. She was dressed casually with her hair dyed a dirty blond, easily mingling with the hip college-aged crowd that made up a good percentage of the clientele here, sipping at a chai latte.

He had figured she would be too busy doing clean-up and being the voice of reason to be nosing around in his current neck of the woods, but nothing good ever came of underestimating any Black Widows. He headed back to his current safehouse, found a good vantage point, and waited.

She came wandering by a few hours later, charming the superintendent of the quaint apartment complex with some story or another, a strand of hair twirling flirtatiously around her finger. He was entirely unsurprised when the man allowed her into the building without a fuss, even going so far as pointing out the apartment that he was staying in. 

Ah, well. He didn’t exactly choose the place for its stellar security, and there weren’t many who could stand firm against Natalia’s ample charms.

She wasted no time picking the lock to his door, slipping in silently with a hand on her gun. He wasted no time stepping in behind her, letting the door close with a quiet click. “Don’t move.” he murmured with his gun already aimed at her head, and at this distance even she wouldn’t be able to dodge a bullet.

Natalia froze, back still to him. “Hello, James,” she said carefully, holding up her hands slowly. “Fancy meeting you here. May I turn around?”

A lesson learned too late by most people who tangled with the Black Widow - the more you talk, the more rope you give her to hang you with. “No. How did you find me?”

She laughed lowly. “You know who taught me how to find people that don’t want to be found, Soldier.”

Not the right thing to ask, then. “What do you want?”

“The same thing you do, I imagine,” she said, turning her head ever so slightly so she could smile at him coyly. When he merely waited for her to elaborate, she sighed before continuing in a completely different tone, dry and a little sarcastic. “I’m sure you had no idea, but there’s a contract out there for a hit on Captain America,” she shrugged. “And that someone accepted it. Someone who’s good enough that Jarvis can’t track them down.” There was an amused little tilt to her head. “You can see why we would be concerned.”

He snorted at the thought of Steve being concerned over something as mundane as having an assassin out for his life - but he could see the rest of the Avengers taking notice, especially if Stark and his tech couldn’t give them an easy, pat answer of who-what-when-where-why. “Still waiting for the point.” He noted.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, James,” Natalia said. “Jarvis isn’t omnipotent, but he is very, very good. Whoever can avoid him is a credible threat to us.”

“I’m a credible threat,” he pointed out.

Natalia was nearly facing him now, and with a roll of her eyes, tucked her gun back into her jacket. “Yeah, Jarvis can’t find you either. But no one thinks it’s you.”

He blinked both at her actions and her words. “I think I’m offended.”

“Don’t be. We know that if you really want to kill Steve, you don’t need a contract and payment, ergo, you don’t really want to kill Steve.” Natalia crossed her arms and rolled her eyes at him when she saw that he hadn’t lowered gun. “And if you’re still lying to yourself about wanting him dead, well, you can say that we have the same goal, because you can’t kill him if someone else kills him first.”

Reluctantly, he lowered the gun. “I’m listening.”

 

**

_Then_

The ironic thing was: he thought to himself, _what would I say if I were a villain, a monster?_

And the words, the actions, were right there, were so easy. Because he was already a villain, a monster.

"You have to let go," Steve told him, standing tall, still trying after all of it - breaking into the tower, indiscriminately firing lasers on the Avenjet in the heart of Manhattan, nearly killing a train full of civilians, and now, missiles with enough payloads to wipe out swaths of the map.

"This rocket is 27 seconds from impact," he replied, watching the realization bloom on Steve's face. When he fell, before, Steve had reached with all his might, desperate to save him. But he couldn't. He couldn't. Even as mutilated as his mind was, the Soldier could tell that it still haunted Steve like a phantom limb. For all his pretty words about not letting the past poison his present, Steve was also still stubbornly clinging on.

"You should let go now too," he said, instead of _goodbye_.

 

**End


End file.
